Rewind
by ThesonofNeptune211
Summary: Carter J. Roswell (along with a few others) are pulled into the parallel world of Re:Zero. This happens prior to the events of the first episode of the anime and also doesn't really involve many of the main characters. Rated M just to be safe for the future.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Day 1 – Hour 13:42 – Location: Somewhere in North America

I crept silently forward, getting ever so closer to the herd of deer that I had been stalking all day. They are currently grazing at the base of a hill with their backs to me. I pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped to my right leg and readied it in the bow. Taking aim at the closest deer, I breathed in then silently breathed out and released the bow string.

The shot missed the deer's skull and instead it buried itself in the deer's hind leg. The area exploded with the sound of panicked deer and the herd sprinted up the hill, with the injured one close behind them. Not wanting to lose my kill I jumped through the bush and sprinted after them.

I was clad in a plain forest green sweatshirt with blue jeans, a steel-framed backpack, a full quiver strapped to each thigh, and a green beanie to hide my bronze colored hair.

I reached the top of the hill to see the deer already halfway down the other side of the hill. Luckily the forest area on the other side of the wasn't as dense as the area I had just come from and I could kinda of see the injured deer hobbling away.

I drew another arrow from my same quiver, readied it, took aim at the deer and fired. This time the arrow hit its target, the deer's skull, killing it instantly. Satisfied I jogged down the hill.

I hopped over a tree branch and everything froze. Well froze isn't the right word, I was more like someone had hit the universal slow-mo button a few hundred times. I could still look around but when I tried to turn my neck to the left, it took what felt like an entirety to just turn a few degrees.

My feet finally hit the ground and like a rubber and time went from stretched out, to back to normal. As this happened my vision tunneled and then returned to normal, but the ground wasn't under my feet anymore.

You know how in cartoons they don't fall unless they look down. Well it was kind of like that, I looked down at see the ground 14 or so feet below me. I didn't have a chance to scream before my vision tunneled again but this time actually faded to back.

Day 1 – Hour 09:03 – Location: Unknown

I awoke to a headache that felt like someone had slammed some pots and pans on my skull for a few hours, and on top of that there was this fog in my head that made it hard to think clearly. I stayed on the ground in hopes to wait out my headache, which only took a few minutes to pass and after that the fog cleared to. Only to be replaced with a sharp throbbing in my side and the realization that I didn't know where the hell I was.

I gently pushed myself into a sitting position on forest floor and padded myself down for any injures. The only injuries I had sustained from the drop was just a bruise, no bigger than my hand, on my left side.

Once I realized I wasn't in any life threatening danger from injuries I stood up and took in my surroundings.

The trees had changed from red maple to something resembling oak. The hill I was running down earlier was gone and in its place just a continuation of the weird oak forest. Not knowing what to do next I figured I could just head back to my campsite. So I looked at the sun, found north and started walking.

Hour 11:42 – Location: Unknown

The campsite was gone, well that isn't exactly what happened but it might as well have been gone. Everything was phased into the ground. The only way I can really describe it is think of the terrain glitch in Ark, but I digress.

Most of my things were either entirely phased or partially phased into the ground. Anything that was partially phased into the ground was flush with the ground making it unusable. So after an hour or so of scavenging I found my spare steel-framed backpack, some MREs and deer jerky, my sleeping bag, extra arrows, and some basic survival equipment.

I folded the my spare steel-framed pack and stuffed it in to my pack along with the other stuff that managed to survive whatever it is that happened to me. After this I doubled checked the straps on my pack, quiver and knife sheaths then I pulled out my smartphone to be greeted by no signal. Now that in its self wasn't surprising but what was really concerning was the no GPS signal and that the compass didn't work.

With nowhere to go I pulled out my map, guesstimated my position and traced a course to my best friend Wyatt Grant's house. From my guesstimate I was somewhere around 275 miles from his house. So if I can cover around 27-28 miles each day I could get there in a little more than a week.

I put the map away shouldered my pack and bow. Doubled checked the straps on the straps on my quivers and knifes. Once satisfied I checked the direction of the sun, found north and headed north-northeast.

Day 10 – Hour 13:12 – Location: 20-30 miles from Wyatt's house

A branch snapped behind me that sounded like a lightning strike. Both on edge and anxious, I pulled an arrow from my quiver, notched said arrow, aimed and fired at the sound all in one fluid motion. A shadow darted out of the way of the arrow and passed into a beam of sunlight were I caught a brief glimpse of the creature.

The creature's body resembled that of a dogs but it was size of a small horse. It had a dark orange fur on its underbelly and jaw and black fur on its back, head and around its blood red eyes. Its ears stood straight up on the side of its head and had a single large canine jutting out from the top of its jaw on either side of its face. A single horn, with a length of around 6 inches, jutted from the tip of its nose.

When the creature realized that it had been seen it stopped and looked me in the eyes. Even at a distance of 80 feet I could tell that the look on its face was one that predators give their prey when they know it can't escape.

Seeing the unknown creature filled me with an almost immeasurable amount of terror that made my heart go from resting to sub-sonic in less than second. I grabbed another arrow and readied in just in case.

The creature pointed its head to the sky and let out a low but very loud howl that didn't last longer than a second or two. Followed by a sharp bark that was just as loud as the howl and 4 of the same creatures, although slightly smaller, moved silently into the open.

The leader crouched as if getting ready to chase, so deciding to make the first move I pulled the bowstring back, took aim at the leader's skull and released the bowstring. The arrow hit home, going straight through its skull with a sickening crunch. Not waiting for a reaction from the others it turned 180 degrees and sprinted away.

It took about a second for the realization that their leader died and they let out a howl and I could hear the sound of their footfalls. Breaking the #1 rule of being chased by, I looked over my shoulder.

Which I immediately regretted as they were now 40 feet away and closing fast. I jumped over a tree root grabbed an arrow from my quiver and notched it. I hit the ground jumped again and turned 180 degrees midair, aimed and fired another arrow at the closest one.

The creature dodged to the left but not entirely as the arrow lodged itself into the creature's hind quarters. The beast let out a yelp of pain and surprise as it tripped over its own feet, and twisted mid-air and slammed into the creature next to it. It would have been laughable if they weren't so hell bent on killing me.

With only one still up and another getting back up I realized I couldn't afford the few seconds it would take for me to draw another arrow as they were now within 20 feet of me. I turned back around and started to sprint away. I hopped over another root, slung my compound bow over my shoulder and pulled my knife free from the sheath on my back.

Right as I pulled the knife completely free from its sheath the creature was on me as I could feel its breath on my back. The creature jumped and sank its claws into my back then jumped off. I screamed in pain as the creature lunged at me. Without thinking I jumped twisted midair and kicked the creature jaw, which promptly shattered with the sickening sound of bones snapping.

Even with a broken jaw the creature wasn't giving up as it tackled me to the ground. With its claws digging into my shoulder I flipped the direction of the knife from facing outwards to facing inwards. With a roar I burrowed the knife, handle deep, into its neck. I wrenched the knife free and a black, viscous, blood like liquid erupted from the wound in its neck, coating my hair, face, and torso in it.

I heaved the dead body off me and stood up, ignoring the pain from the scratches on my shoulders and chest, but I had the vaguest impression that I had forgotten something.

Something darted out from the trees in the blink of an eye. I raised the knife to attack but was to slow. The creature bent its head and collided with my right leg sending me sprawling on my back. It clamped its jaws on the lower part of my leg. With the strength of a wolf, the creature bit down. I felt my Tibia and Fibula bend then with an explosion of pain they shattered. My vision sparked as another one of the creatures clapped its jaws around my shoulder and I felt my left shoulder blade crack.

I roared in pain as the ground cracked and lime green flames flared from the cracks. The creatures stopped and looked at the flames then me, then back at the flames. Then with the sound of a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier the flames exploded outwards, enveloping me, the creatures and everything behind them.

The fire remained there for a minute then vanished leaving only the smell of 'fire and brimstone' and the entire area void as all life for all I could see. Overcome with exhaustion and an immeasurable amount of pain I closed my eyes but was unable to pass out.

I didn't know how long I laid there but I could hear the sound of someone running towards me. The person, or at least I hope it's a person, running towards me took a deep breath and started coughing. A feminine voice sounded from a few feet away,

"Damn this air is not good for the lungs."

She knelt down to me and I could hear the sound of her rummaging through a sack or something like that. She pressed a smooth, flat, stone no bigger than a baseball to the wound on my shoulder and the pain faded and my exhaustion ebbed enough allowing me to open my eyes.

The girl had lightly tanned skin, with brown honey colored hair that reached down a few inches past her shoulders that partially covered her emerald eyes. She was wearing plain canvas clothes; a sheathed short sword was strapped to her back and a small brown sack was in her hands. Right above where her ears would be she had two cat-ears.

She looked at me and saw that I was awake. She apparently thought I wasn't as the expression on her face went from concern to surprise. I looked down at the stone to see that it was glowing the same color as the explosion from earlier.

I tried to sit up only to have my leg explode with pain. I groaned in pain.

"Don't move, it's a miracle you even survived releasing that much mana at once without breaking your body. To add to that, you still have massive amounts of mana. I am surprised you even are still conscious let alone alive."

She shook her head and reached into the bag on her hip on pulled out a small, cylindrical stone around 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. She gave me an apologetic look and pulled up the hem of my right pant leg.

"Sorry in advanced, this is really going to hurt."

She grabbed the upper and lower end of my calf and set the bone. Spots danced on the edge of my vision then faded to black.

Day 16 – Hour 06:54 – Location: Unknown

I jolted awake at the sound of something roaring outside. I shot up into a sitting position causing the other person in the room to yet out a yelp of surprise.

The room looked to be the size of an average apartment room with the walls, floor, and ceiling all made of oak. The bed I was laying in sat in the right corner of the room, relative to the door, with an oak dresser at the end of the bed. A window was in the center of the wall that the head of the bed was pressed against. The bed was made out of something resembling walnut. Red sheets were pulled over the soft mattress and a blue comforter was pulled over it.

I turned to look at the source of the yelp to see the girl who rescued me sitting on an oak chair next to the bed with a book in her hand. Next to the chair was a small nightstand with a tray with a bowl, towel and some other things I couldn't see. I opened my mouth to say something when all that came out was something that sounded like frog croaking.

She grinned at the sound I made and she handed me a cup of cool water. I took a sip of water and tried to speak.

"Thank you… Umm what's your name?"

She gave me a questioning look, "You asked me that when I carried you here, but anyway my name is Sayre," She avoided my eyes and her cheeks turned scarlet, "I… Umm need you to take off your shirt to check the injuries on your shoulder."

I nodded and tried to quell the rising heat in my cheeks. "Yea,"

I tried to raise my arm above my head and I was surprised that I didn't feel any pain. Until my hand was above my head and a web of white hot pain started from my spine and spiked across my left shoulder and ended at my elbow.

I hissed in pain as tears surfaced in my eyes and doubled over. Sayre rushed over to me with the flat stone in her hand. She pressed the stone to my shoulder and the pain subsided.

"Sorry Carter, I probably should have warned you about that."

Sayre's right hand glowed with a ghostly blue hue and she pressed the palm of her right hand against my chest and the shirt expanded big enough to just slip out of. She stood up and sat down behind me.

"So Sayre how did you find me?"

She pressed her glowing palms against my back and gave me a look of disbelief.

"Carter you do realize that the column of fire you created was seen from over 8 miles away, I am actually surprised I was the one that found you. But anyway I was waiting for a merchant that had stopped a few miles away of Primera when the ground shook, and a column of lime green flames shot up in the sky. A few seconds later a heat wave washed over the area making anything wet steam.

So against my better judgement, I asked the Merchant for one of his Ground Dragon, he let me use it and 10 minutes later I reached the part of the forest that your fire vaporized. The area looked to be around 2 miles across and a perfect circle. I pry wouldn't have found you if the Ground Dragon hadn't sprinted off towards the center of area. I found you laying crater about 20 feet across and in dangerously large puddle of your own blood and covered in dried, black blood.

I jumped off the Ground Dragon to find that your right leg looked like it had gone through a meat grinder. Your shoulder wasn't much better but your shoulder blade wasn't shattered like your leg was. When I got closer I saw that you were still awake."

I shuttered at the memory and Sayre pulled her hands away from my shoulder.

"You know a few minutes after I set and healed your Tibia you kept drifting in and out of consciousness muttering random things."

I could almost feel the smirk on her face, "So what did my pain addled mind say that I will never live down."

"The first time you woke up you seem to be quite lucid. Until I tried to get your attention and you started to argue with yourself about why you appeared in this world, then you slumped over and I had a minor panic attack as I thought you had died." She started to laugh unable to continue what she was saying.

"The next time you woke up you tried to touch my ears and then asked if I was a goddess," My faced heated up with mortal embarrassment and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die there. Sayre started laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

"I told you know and you said that's what a god in disguise would say, and you passed out." I paled in horror and mentally cursed my past self, but I had the vaguest feeling that she was telling the truth.

"I seriously said that, didn't I?"

"Yep I am never going to let you live it down,"

Sayre poked my side and I groaned in embarrassment,

"Oh man, I am going to die of embarrassment."

Sayre tried to stifle her laughter but failed miserably. As she laughed, even if it was at me, I was filled with happiness, but it was accompanied by an even stronger feeling of dread that eventually the moment will come to an end. It as a weird combination of two polar opposite emotions that made my heart throb painfully.

She must have seen the pained expression cross my face as her laughter died it her throat and she asked, "What's wrong?"

I shook my head to clear my mind and said, "Nothing, just thinking about something."

She nods her head, "Well your shoulder is almost completely healed but you should be careful not to move it much as the nerves I regrew are extremely sensitive and pry will be for the next week."

Sayre climbed off the bed, "What about my leg?"

"I healed your leg when I first found you as it was the most life-threatening of your injuries. Although you might want some crutches just in case your nerves aren't fully healed."

I turned towards Sayre and let my feet hang off the bed. I mentally debated asking her about teaching me how to control my magic when she turned towards me, cheeks lightly tinted red and said,

"Also before I forget my dad wanted to talk to you about living here when you woke up. Since you appeared to have all your belonging on you when I found you I figured you probably don't have a place to stay and my father wants to know if you need a place to stay. But he said you either have to help him in his shop with forging weapons or get a job."

"What kinds of weapons does he make?"

"Umm I don't really know their names but he makes short swords, long swords, knives, axes, Chakrams, and swords like the one in your pack. There are a few more but I don't remember, but I know he also makes enchanted and custom items."

I nodded and without thinking I stood up. Which I immanently regretted as my shoulder and leg lit up with pain and the muscles there spasmed. My leg gave out and I let out a cry of surprise.

I grabbed the side of the bed before I slammed my face into the oak floor, and Sayre let out stifled laugh and said, "Carter I don't know whether to laugh at your stupidity or criticize you about it."

I turned my head to look at her and sarcastically said, "Har, har, har Sayre. Laugh at the crippled it's not like we can stand up for ourselves."

She sputtered and started to laugh even harder, to the point that her eyes were tearing up from laughing so hard. After a minute of laughing she managed to choke out, "Oh my god, Carter that is so mean."

I smirked and said, "Yea but it's funny as hell but umm could you help me up."

She seemed to have totally forgot that I was laying on the ground as she apologized profusely. With her hands glowing their magical ghost blue hue she grabbed my right arm and pulled it over her shoulder. Before she stood up my body briefly glowed the same color as her hands and I felt about 80 pounds lighter. I felt a little jealous as my magic only consisted of fire, which is pretty cool but it doesn't have the wide variety of uses Sayre's magic has.

"That's a really neat trick. What else can you do with your magic?"

We started heading down stairs.

"Well my magic falls under the Empowerer class. People with that class can manipulate the characteristics of objects. But the Empowerer class has two sub-classes, Internal, and External. Although technically there is 3 but I digress. People in the Internal sub-class can alter the characteristics of their own body, like making their skin as hard as stone or their bones as ridged as a leaf, but not anything else. Were as the External sub-class can alter the characteristics of everything but their own body. External users can make objects denser, lighter, bigger, smaller, and transparent, the list goes on.

Although all objects can be changed it depends of what the object is and what you are trying to change about it. For example if I wanted to make iron act like a mattress it would take more mana than it would take to turn the iron shiny, which would require very little mana. It also depends on the object, larger and denser objects require more mana."

I nodded and made a mental note of what she just said. We stopped at the foot of the stairs and I asked,

"What about my powers?"

"Yours would fall under the Elemental category. Most Elemental users, even weak ones, can at least control two of the 6 'elements.' So it would be extremely unlikely that you only control Fire. But out of elements, Air, Water/Ice, Earth, Fire, Light, and Shadow, I would pry say you will pry find that you can control Ice or Shadow next. But most Elemental mages who start out with being able to control Fire can only control its opposite, Water or Ice. But with your almost limitless mana you could pry do some pretty cool stuff with your Fire magic."

"Are there any other types of magic? Like say being able to summon creatures, familiars, or demons."

"Well being able to summon things falls under the Summoner category. But like the Empowerer class it has two sub-classes called Innate and Acquired. Innate Summoners are able to summon things without any knowledge of summoning and those who fall under the Innate sub-class tend to be able to summon very powerful creatures. Were as those in the Acquired sub-class have to learn from Innate users. Most Acquired users have to summon things into existence via a Summoning Gate or an incantation, and those methods aren't really able to summon anything more powerful that a lesser demon. But people with massive amounts of mana, like you, can summon things without the use of circles and incantations and are able to summon things like one of the Sins."

She shivered at the mention of a Sin, which I can only assume is possibly one of the Seven Deadly Sins from the Christian Mythos.

"I actually have a few books from my friend, Asha, who is an Innate Summoner. Last year she tried to teach me how to summon things but the best I could summon was just an Elemental Spirit, which is extremely pitiful. If you want when your injuries are fully healed we can go talk to her and you can try your luck at summoning a familiars."

I thought about it for a second and said, "I think that would actually be really cool. I wonder what I can summon."

"Well in my opinion Summoners have the coolest power because they can summon not just creatures but objects to. Like imagine being able to summon anything from the pantry or your imagination to you by just thinking about it. Like," Sayre snapped her fingers, "And poof you now have a plate of food, or whatever you want in your lap. Man I wouldn't have to do anything at all and I could just read all day. No need to run errands, nothing it would be great."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. She sounded just like every teenager from my world, I shook my head and what she said. She stopped halfway down the stairs and gave me a weird look. "What's so funny Carter? Wouldn't you do the same thing if you could?"

"Well you're not wrong, but you totally don't give off the lazy person vibe. Your vibe is that of a, well hmm, I don't really know how to describe your vibe. Well I guess it kinda reminds me someone I knew who had a really traumatizing experience. He always hid his pain under a guise of cheerfulness and nonchalance. Now I am not implying you had something traumatic happen to you, but both of your vibes are very similar to each other."

Her entire body froze for a fraction of a second as her eyes widened then her original expression came back. It was only there for a second and I pry wouldn't have noticed it if my arm was around her neck.

She eye roll and in a joking tone, that sounded forced, she said, "Well damn that's kinda depressing Carter."

"Hey you're the one giving off the vibe, and I was just drawing a comparison from you to him. Sorry if I offended you or hurt your feelings."

She shrugged and started walking down the stairs again.

"It's no big deal, you're actually not far from the truth, but I would prefer that you don't press about it. I don't really want to talk about."

I nodded and said, "I understand, sorry for making you think about it again."

"You know Carter for someone who honestly doesn't give off the vibe of someone with intelligence, you are actually quite intelligent."

I sarcastically clutched my heart in mock pain, and said, "My Savior, your words… They wound me." At that, her smirk returned right as we reached the last step of the stairs


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Day 23 – Hour 12:49 – Location: Primera, Eirhart District

"So like this?" I held out my right hand in front of me with my palm facing down. Sayre stood on my left with a large old book in her hands. She looked at the book and nodded yes.

"The book says to now imagine the circles moving, it also says that you shouldn't force the circles to turn as you can accidentally summon an unwanted entity."

"Alright sounds simple enough." Sayre back a few feet away from me and the circles. I smiled coyly and said, "What's wrong, are you sacred."

"Only that you might blow us up."

"Well it's like what my Wyatt used to say, 'It doesn't matter if the universe implodes or you swallow a grenade either way you're dead."

Sayre shook her head and I turned my attention back at the Summoning Gate. It was made up of 5 circles with the largest being the outer circle and was 5 feet in diameter. The second largest circle was 4 feet in diameter and they kept shrinking down by a foot until you reach the smallest circle that was 1 foot in diameter.

I imagined the innermost circle turning but nothing happened. Then the inner circle made a noise like two old gears being forced to turn after years of neglect. Then it started to turn counter clockwise and was followed by the second smallest circle turning clockwise and the pattern repeated across the different circles. I looked over at Sayre who was staring at the moving chalk circles with awe.

"I never even got this far, I was only able to make the inner circle move not all five."

"What do I do next?"

She looked at the book then said, "It says that after all five circles are moving one should wait and it will start glowing. Once the glowing stops your Familiar will be in the center of the circles."

I nodded and a few seconds later the circles started to glow orange. The light progressively brighter to the point that I couldn't see Sayre who had moved right next to me and had grabbed the hem of my sweatshirt.

The glowing leveled out at almost blinding luminosity, and it stated that way for a minute and the light dimmed. When the bronze light faded in the center of the circle was… a short sword. It was mainly jet black on both the sword and handle but on the blade it had lime green lines like lightning running across the blade. Sitting right next to the sword was a black, scale sheath. The blade looked to be around 15 to 17 inches with a blade thickness of less than half an inch. The sword had a fuller going down the center of the blade. The hilt didn't have any sort of elaborate design and the cross guard only went out an inch from the sword. I looked over at Sayre who was now reading the old Summoner book and said.

"Well that was uneventful, and kind of disappointing."

She smiled and said, "Well at least you got a sword when you tried to summon your Familiar. All I summoned was besides an Elemental Spirit was a necklace."

I grinned, "Guess you aren't as cool as me." She poked my sides playfully as I went over to pick up the short sword. I bent down and grabbed the sheath. It was cool to the touch, the scales gave it a smooth feeling but it gripped to my hand. I reached down and picked up the sword with my right hand. The black parts of the swords were cool to the touch, like the sheath was, but the green part of the blade was hot to the touch.

I rolled the sword over in my hand and I noticed that there was an encryption written on the cross-guard. I brought it closer to my face and it in cursive like writing it read, 'Lamina Maledicta' which if I remember correctly is Latin for Cursed Sword. I slid the Sword in its sheath and was about to go and put it in my backpack when I had this unexplained feeling that it was important and I shouldn't leave it anywhere.

Wanting to learn how to control my magic I turned to Sayre. She was currently putting the old book back on her bookshelf. "Hey Sayre, I was wondering if we could go outside of the city so I can practice magic today."

She slid the book on the book shelf and said, "Well we could go to that area I found you at, and it takes about 4 hours of walking to reach there. I don't have anything planned for today or tomorrow. So I guess we could go today but we can't leave for a few more hours. So if you want to go today we might have to send the night in the forest." I shrugged and said, "That's fine with me."

So I started to pack up my travel bag full of supplies and camping essentials.

Day 23 – Hour 19:48 – Location: Southeast from Primera

We were about 20 minutes away from the place I had vaporized, man it really needs a better name, and walking in almost complete darkness when I asked Sayre, "So a few days you mentioned wanting to become a Knight. Why do you want to be a knight?"

"I don't really know, ever since I was 5 I have wanted to protect people. So I figured that becoming a knight bout be the best way to do it."

"Wow, that's a really noble reason."

She chuckled and said, "What do you plan to do."

I shrugged and said, "I don't really know. What do you have to do become a Knight?"

Sayre hummed thoughtfully, "Well to become a Knight they have a training camp, anyone can participate in for a fee of a single Holy Coin, every season. It last about 8 weeks and they teach you how to wield a variety of weapons, shoot bows, and a few other things. But to pass the training camp you have to spar against another knight who are about as strong as you are. You either have to beat them or survive for 5 minutes, if not you don't pass."

"That's really simple."

I slowed my pace so we were walking side by side. "Well it is a requirement for you to pass the camp for you to be able to become a Knight. Also even if you don't want to be a Knight its really useful. You know what,"

"Hmm"

"You should enter the training program with me. We could see who is the better Knight, which of course if me. It starts in 4 and a half weeks," her voice quieted and seemed to sound sad, "So if you decide to stay here that long, we should join together."

"Defiantly, plus I still have to repay my debt to you for saving my life."

I looked over at her and she had a large grin on her face. At the sight of her grin a feeling of contentment spread over me. We continued to walk for a few more minutes in silence but it wasn't awkward silence, it was more of a comfortable silence. We continued to walk for the remaining 15 minutes.

The ground was just dirt, 4 miles of just dirt. No trees, grass, life just dirt. The area was a perfect circle with the trees surrounding the dirt area were burned and blacked. There was a fine line of ash and the air smelled of 'Fire and Brimstone.'

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I got this weird feeling of being watched. I sucked in a deep breath of the sulfuric air and said, "Damn, I caused all this?"

Sayre started walking forward with me in tow. "You should have seen it when it was still on fire." I shook my head and we walked about 54 yards when she stopped and said,

"Well I don't mind going farther but this place makes my skin crawl," She shivered and I said, "If you don't want to go any farther its fine by me. So, got any tips for summoning my magic?"

"Well I figured out how to use my magic when I was 6." She paused and continued, "I can really only explain it is this way. Think of moving a muscle you knew you had, like moving your ears. But since you are an Elemental user thinking of it as a muscle pry won't help... I knew someone who learned to use their magic by thinking of happening. Like try holding out your hand and imagine flames are coming out of your hand."

"Alright, sounds simple enough." I turned and faced away from Sayre, held out my hand in front of me with my palm facing outwards. I imagined the burning green flames shooting from my outstretched hand. Nothing happened for the first few seconds and I was about to put my hand back at my side when my palm exploded with a lime green beam.

The explosion made a sound of lightning and a column about 2 feet in diameter shot out of my hands for about 15 – 20 feet. The force knocked me off my feet and sent me about 15ft backwards and into the ground.

I hit the ground with a thud and my teeth painfully knocked together. My head swam and I noticed that the air smelled heavily of sulfur and a few other materials that I couldn't identify. I groaned in pain as my back started to painfully hurt.

Sayre ran over to me and I noticed that she had small tears in her eyes. She pressed the palms of her hands on my chest and they started to glow a ghostly blue. My chest tingled and the pain subsided. I leaned my head up to look at Sayre and I said, "Thanks"

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her hand and said, "You scared the hell out of me." I got what she was thinking and I said, "I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Here can you help me up." She nodded and helped me up.

I gave her a coy grin and said jokingly, "You want to see me do it again?" She shook her head, then poked my side before taking a few steps back. I turned away from her and this time I imagined my column of flames with a diameter of 2 inches.

Immediately my palm lit up with a thunderclap and a column of lime green fire extend about 10 feet from my palm. The force of the flames pushed against my hand with a few pounds of force that was easy to push against.

I looked over at Sayre who was watching my flames with a look awe. I closed my fist and the flames extinguished as my fist closed over them. I grinned at my new-found power and wondered what I could do with it. My train of thought was interrupted when Sayre walked over to me and jokingly said,

"You aren't planning to become a super villain, are you?"

"No just thinking of creative way to use my flames."

"Well, why don't you use it to increase your maneuverability? You could shoot tiny blasts of fire underneath your feet to propel yourself longer distances. Although knowing you, you pry have already come up with that idea, haven't you?"

I was impressed that she knew what I was thinking. I stepped a few feet away from her ad said, "I was thinking about that but I don't really want to attempt that as I don't have a lot of experience with using magic. Some of my other ideas were, maybe trying to create a Fireball that I could throw or trying to make an everlasting ball of fire that I could give to people or stick in areas to light up."

"The eternal fire thing would be cool but how would you get past the burning problem?"

I shrugged and held my hand out in front of me and imagined a ball of lime green fire in my semi-closed fist.

"Don't know still working on that. But watch this."

The Fireball in my hand was glowing now and the flames were flicking in between my fingers. I waited a few more seconds for the Fireball to get bigger, I then threw the fireball.

The Fireball sailed about 100-120 feet through the air and impacted the ground with and explosion of light and the sound of a jet breaking the sound barrier. The explosion sent clumps of dirt and rocks in the air that created a large dust cloud.

Once the dust settled I could see the damage it had done to the ground. Were the fire ball hit the ground was a 2-foot-deep hole and the ground in and surrounding the hole was covered in a thin layer of soot.

Day 24 – Hour 01:03 – Location: Primera's Southern Forest

I had finally grasped using my Flames and Fireball creations. It had taken the majority of the 5 hours we were here but I was confident enough to regularly use my magic. I had also learned to create a Flame that would persist even if I stopped thinking about it. We were currently standing around one over those everlasting fires when Sayre said,

"Hey I am going to bed," She yawned, "See you in the morning."

Sayre climbed into one of my sleeping bags and fell asleep. Realizing I was staring at her I turned away from her at watched the fire.

For some reason I didn't have the drive to sleep. It happened ever since I started to practice summoning my 'Hell-Fire' as Sayre calls it. I remember reading that Mages can use their mana to feed them and replenish their strength, but most don't as they don't want to waste mana. I had a feeling that I might be unconsciously doing it.

I sat staring at the fire for a little while longer when I decided that I should at least try to sleep. So, I grabbed my sleeping bag and laid down across from Sayre, but sleep didn't come and I laid there for a while.

I was quietly thinking to myself when Sayre sat up abruptly. I jolted to attention, sat up and looked over at Sayre. She had sweat gleaming on her forehead and seemed to be gasping for a breath. Concerned I was about to stand up and go over to her when she saw me looking at her. I opened my mouth and said, "Hey are you ok?"

She nodded and I laid back down. I went back to laying down and trying to sleep when Sayre asked, "Carter... Umm do you mind if I sleep next to you. I... I had a nightmare."

At that request my face turned scarlet and I feebly said, "Sure,"

Sayre stood up and walked over to me. She placed her hands on my sleeping bag and it extended out sideways and Sayre laid down next to me. With her back to me she curled up into a ball and she eventually fell asleep.

Now with almost no chance of getting sleep, I continued to lay there till I felt my eyes get heavy and I drifted off into sleep.

Day Unknown – Time Unknown – Location Unknown

I opened my eyes to find myself 6 inches from a set of large obsidian colored doors that were big enough to fit a dragon through. I had the vaguest sense that I was in a dream and I looked around the room.

The room looked to be about 1/3rd the size of a football field with large arches supporting the ceiling. The room looked to be made entirely of obsidian, I looked closer at the door and saw that even though it looked like it was made of obsidian colored wood it was in fact made of obsidian. In the center of the room there was a simple obsidian throne that looked to have grown straight out of the floor.

I went to grab the door's handle only for a feminine voice with a tone you would use to talk to a misbehaving 2-year-old behind me said, "Now, now, now I didn't say you could leave yet Carter. We haven't had the chance to introduce ourselves."

I turned towards the sound of voice to see the obsidian throne being occupied by a woman. She was laying lazily across the arm rest of the throne with a goblet in her right hand. She was wearing a skin-tight outfit that left little to the imagination and had straight black hair with purple irises and black lip stick. She looked at me with a bored expression plastered across her face. She took a sip from the goblet then said.

"I am Mariam and I am-"

A sudden wave of annoyance washed over me and I interrupted her with. "A god. Yea I assumed much considering I seldom dream and I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt that this isn't the place I went to asleep in. So, what did you bring me here for, I doubt it was to talk, so I am going to go out on a limb and say you brought me to this world."

Mariam smiled with an expression of some weird almost scary look of joy crossed her face. "My, my, don't you know not to talk back to gods. You are the first person to have put that together, I have definitely picked a good pawn."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Straight to the point. Well the simple answer is that I am bored. I thought that messing with the lives of my creations would be good way to entertain myself. So, I brought a hand full of people to my world."

I inwardly groaned at this, as this sounded like a plot to a bad video game. "You obviously aren't telling me everything. You don't just buy new toys to look at them, so who or what do I have to defeat."

"You are either are a lot smarter or a lot dumber than the rest of my pawns. Now I will explain the power in which I have given you. Whenever you die your soul will move back in time to the point that the events of your death aren't set in stone. The only rule this power has is this: The first person you made contact with in this world is the only person in the world, besides the other pawns, that can learn of your time ability and of your past. If you attempt to tell anyone else you will die, painfully. And because my brother has asked me to give you a hint to your true power, I will tell you this. If you concentrate enough you can slow down time, and his second hint is for when you wake up and it's just one word, MOVE."

I opened my mouth to say something when she lazily flicked her wrist in my direction and a wall of smoke erupted from her fingers. The wall of smoke engulfed me and I passed out.

Day 24 – Hour 06:19 – Location: Primera's Southern Forest

My eyes shot open and was instantly awake but a feeling of dread washed over me. Sayre was snuggled into my chest with her face pressed into my chest. My arm was wrapped protectively around her abdomen and my chin was resting on her head. The forest was silent and the sun was just 30 minutes from peaking above the horizon and my fire was out. I noticed all of this the span of a second.

I saw a flash of purple energy somewhere to my right. I didn't even know what it was but my body was already acting. My hand glowed with Hell-Fire and I swiped my hand through the sleeping bag and my Flames melted it.

Once my arm was pointing towards the source of the purple flash my hand erupted with flames and I was pushed 10 feet backwards. Something black and shiny passed right through where Sayre and I were laying. I jumped up and pulled the now awake Sayre up with me.

"Carter what was that about?"

I ignited my right hand and summoned a bright flame that lit up everything within 20 yards and pointed it away from my and Sayre. "I have no clue but I am pretty sure someone just tried to kill us."

My eyes scanned the now lit area for movement and Sayre put her hand on my back asked, "What did you see."

"A flash of purple energy and then a few seconds later something jet black passed right where we were sleeping."

Sayre froze but I didn't have time to deal with that as something felt off. I turned to face Sayre when I saw another flash of purple right behind her. I shoved Sayre to the ground and was in the process of ducking when a something black and heavy impacted my left shoulder and I fell on my back.

I knew it was a knife and I expected there to be pain but instead it was more like a warning bell telling me I was injured and where. Sayre ran over to me but she had that look of someone reliving something traumatizing. I grabbed her wrist and said.

"Sayre," Her eyes seemed to focus on me, "Sayre listen to me you need to go back to Primera." Tears brimmed in her eyes and she choked out, "You don't know what that... that thing can do." Her eyes unfocused for a split second then refocused and said, "He will kill the both of us."

I stood up and pulled the knife out of my shoulder and said, "Hasn't met me, know Sayre you are going to run, got that." I don't know why but I didn't fear the possibility that I could die, I had this strange calm feeling. She looked at me and seemed to mentally debate something then she sprinted off towards Primera.

Purple flashes in front of me and I raise my hand and a foot-wide column of fire shoots from my hand. It extends out about 20ft then takes a 90 degree turn and creates a barrier of Hell-Fire 3 feet wide. A jet-black knife impacts the fire wall and the knife vaporized.

Something moved behind me and I turned to see what it was. Right at the edge of my light there was a goblin. It stood about 4 feet tall, had pointed ears, slender limbs, and had dead grey skin. Simple iron plates covered its limbs and looked to be some sort of primitive armor. The goblin grinned to reveal rotting, red stained teeth that were unnaturally pointed.

Purple flashed on my left and I ducked. The knife flew over my head but in a slow-motion kind of way, almost like it was flying through gel. I slowly stood back up as the goblin was walking towards me. I glanced at the knife to see it still moving slowly away from me.

I tried to move my arm but it wouldn't react fast enough and the goblin was right in front of me. Time sped back forward and my hand caught fire and I tried to punch the goblin. In the blink of an eye the goblin ducked, stood back up and its hand shot out and grabbed my neck.

The goblin lifted me off my feet and he started to put pressure on my windpipe. I covered both my hands in Hell-Fire and I grabbed the Goblin's face. Nothing happened and the goblin laughed and in a voice that sounded like gravely, scared voice.

"For one of the first and smartest pawns brought here, you sure don't know that Goblin's are fire resistant."

He relaxed my windpipe enough that I could talk and I grinned and said, "Resistant, that doesn't mean immune." I spit in his face and imagined a smaller version of the explosion that destroyed part of the forest.

The Goblin snarled and resumed crushing my windpipe as all the ground within 50 yards of me cracked and my green Hell-Fire shone beneath the cracking ground.

"No, no, no, I can't have your Cursed Flames ruining my job, now can we? Although I came here for the girl, I will gladly take the life of whom she loves. That will crush her spirit,"

He looked at me for a response, "Oh come on now Carter, don't you think so too. Kind of like how I am crushing your windpipe." He let out a howl that I assume was supposed to be a laugh. Spots danced on my vision and Hell-Fire started to spill out of the cracks on the ground. The Goblin looked at me one last time and said, "My name is Vetic," (Ven-tic) I started to thrash and with a twist of his wrist he snapped my neck.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Day 24 – Hour 03:19 – Location: Primera's Southern Forest

My hands flew to my neck as I attempted to pry the now nonexistent hand that was around my slightly bruised neck. I let out a strangled gasp and attempted to sit in an upright position on to have Sayre's arms stop me.

I looked to my left side to see Sayre with her arms wrapped around torso and her face buried into my side. She let out a sigh of content as her ears flicked in her sleep as she shifted in to a more comfortable position. My face turned scarlet and I was immensely embarrassed. In an attempt to quell the rising embarrassment I started to think about the 'dream' I just had.

It didn't feel like a dream and on top of that I don't normally dream, let alone have nightmares. But I had no other explanation for the strange event, except for what the 'Goddess' Mariam had said. Although I had this strange feeling that it wasn't just a dream but that it was this supposed ability Mariam gave me. So I decided to wake Sayre so we can leave.

I lightly put my hand between her ears and gently shook her awake. Her ears flicked and she groaned in protest. I continued this action for a few more seconds till she finally pushed away from me and said, "I am awake, what did you wake me up for?"

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and then seemed to realize the position she had woken up in. Her face turned red and she fumbled with the sleeping bag zipper and climbed out while stammering an apology.

I would have smiled at her embarrassment but a creeping feeling of dread was blossoming in my chest. I sat up and opened my mouth to speak but I rethought my words and said,

"Sayre do you trust me?"

Her face pinched in confusion and she slowly nodded.

"Then we need to leave this place as soon as possible. I can explain it all once we have left this area but I just need to trust me that something very bad is about to happen."

She nodded and we started to pack up.

Day 24 – Hour 04:49 – Location Primera's Southern Forest

It has been about an hour and a half since we left the campsite and only just a few minutes since the feeling of dread had lessened. Deciding it would be a good time to talk to Sayre about my dream I slowed my pace and said.

"The reason behind wanting to leave the area is because of a dream."

"Was it a nightmare? That would be the only other explanation as to why you would want to leave."

I shrugged, "I wish it was just a nightmare. If Mariam hadn't told me about the ability I probably would think it was all just a nightmare."

A looked of something resembling fear flashed across Sayre's face at the mention of Mariam but I decided to not say anything.

"What did this 'Mariam' say?"

"She told me I have this power that when I die I am sent back in time to were the events of my death aren't set in stone with my memories intact."

"So, I assume you died, but you seem totally fine for someone who just died and came back to life."

"I was thinking about that and I don't feel anything. It's like I am almost numb to the concept of death. It used to be terrified of death but now I just don't really care, it kind of worries me."

"Well considering you have the ability to go back in time, your actions have no consequences. You could kill someone then kill yourself and Rewind back. And this might be off topic but what about if you die of old age, are you sent back to the previous day?"

I was glad that Sayre trusted me but she seemed to accept my ability as truth as if she was already told about it. I wondered if Mariam had talked to Sayre like she had talked to me. It just seemed off, and it didn't worry me I was just curious as to way she accepted this idea.

"Interesting idea, I got no clue, but back to what happened. Mariam sent me back to my body but with a warning from her brother telling me to start running. When I awoke a jet-black knife came shooting out from the darkness. Without even thinking, my arm caught fire and I fired a blast of fire towards my feet and the blast moved us out of the path of the knife. We got up and another knife came hurtling from the darkness behind you. I shoved you to the ground but I wasn't fast enough and the knife hit my left shoulder."

Sayre looked worried and asked, "Do you still have the wound?" I shook my head no and continued.

"I told you to head back to the city and you tried to convince me not to but I forced you to go anyway. After you had left a 4-foot tall Goblin with slender limbs, pointed ears, dead grey skin and blood-stained teeth. The Goblin flew towards me at impossible speeds and time slowed down. Something flashed purple behind it and a knife shot from the flash. Since time was slowed I was able to dodge the knife but the Goblin used this to grab me by the neck."

My hand absent mindedly touched the area the Goblin hand had touched my neck and continued.

"I tried to pry his hands off my neck but he was to strong. So, I attempted to burn him but he was fire resistant. As a last-ditch effort, I tried to create a smaller version of the explosion I had used to destroy part of the forest. But before I could do that he told me his name was Vetic and then snapped my neck."

At the mention of Vetic she froze. Her ears were flattened against her head and she looked like someone having a PTSD flashback. I remembered back to her adopted father, Eric, mentioning that her entire village was wiped out before he had started to take care of her. Because of this reaction to the name Vetic I assumed it was probably somehow related to her village being destroyed.

I moved closer to her and the moment I got closer to her she wrapped her arms around me. Not knowing how to react to this I returned the gesture by hugging her back. At this she started to sob. After a few minutes of this her sobs quieted and said,

"You would think that after 10 years I would get over it," She takes a deep breath, "But every time someone mentions his name I relive that week," She shuddered.

"You want to talk about it? It might be better if you talk about it."

"When I was younger I lived in a village named Arkala with my parents. It wasn't a large village and we lived off the land. The village was small enough that you knew almost everyone there. When I was 5 a Goblin with dead grey skin, sharpened blood-stained teeth was found sitting in the center of town in the middle of the night. When the sun rose, the Goblin started to attack people, but he didn't kill them just crippled them."

Her breathing sped up and her voice seemed to crack. I pulled her into a tighter embrace and she continued.

"He did this to everyone under the age of 8, and everyone who tried to run was almost killed. He then killed anyone who didn't have a child or whose children were over the age of 8. Everyone else was tortured, and he forced everyone below the age of 8 to watch him torture our parents, and it went on for a whole week. Once the week was up our parents were dead and he was gone."

She started to openly sob in to my chest. It was amazing she had gone through something like that and still seemed so put together. I rested my head on her forehead and said,

"Hey it's going to be fine. Nothing like that will happen again."

After a few minutes of me murmuring comforting words she stopped sobbing, but I the same feeling that I had gotten prior to my first death. I froze and quietly said,

"Sayre, I know this is pry going to terrified you but I think-"Something flashed purple in front of me and I lunged to the left and pulled Sayre with me.

A knife cut through the air where we were just a second ago. Sayre started to shake in my arms and I pulled her to her feet as time started to slow.

I summoned a ball of fire in my hand and the area around me was lit up. Purple flashed to my left and a feeling of an odd calm came over me. I raised my hand it meet the knife and a stream of lime green flames shot towards the oncoming knife.  
When I was sure the knife was vaporized I stopped the flames and the gravelly voice of Vetic sound from all around us.

"Hmm, it seems you know of my attack. Well no matter I am not a one trick pony, and I will have your girlfriends head."

The trees rustled and, in the darkness, I could vaguely see outline of humanoid shapes standing side by side in a circle. It took me a few seconds to realize that the humanoid shapes were in fact other Goblins. Purple flashed above me and I rolled to my left, all while pulling Sayre along with me.

I pulled my compound bow from my shoulder, made a ball of fire that was bright enough to light up the area and pulled Sayre to her feet. I notched an arrow and aimed at one of the Goblins. The arrow lodged itself into the thigh of one of the Goblins but it only went in as far as the arrow head.

"Well Shit," Then an idea hit me. I notched another arrow and pulled the bowstring back and asked Sayre, "Hey I need you to shrink the bowstring while also increasing its tensile strength." She nodded and placed her hand the bowstring and it suddenly felt like I was trying to keep a car from moving downhill with only kite string.

"Now Sayre I need you to reinforce the overall strength of the arrow so it doesn't shatter on impact." She touched the arrow and then nodded and stepped away from the bow.

I nodded in thanks and took aim at a random Goblins head. When I released the arrow, even with the speed of time halved, the arrow crossed the distance of about 60ft in a split second and impacted a Goblins skull with a sickening crack.

"Hmm, well now we can't let you live, now can we?" At this the Goblins slowly walked into the light and they all vaguely resembled Vetic. The only difference is that they all wielded weapons raging from short swords, long swords, war hammers to other weapons I didn't know the name for.

The moment I could see them they charged at us. The closest one to us was wielding a knife and quickly closing the distance between us. I dropped my bow, pulled the Cursed Sword from it sheath, and moved to block the strike from the Goblin.

Our swords collided with a metallic clang that resonated through the forest. I pushed his sword away from mine then while he was off balance I grabbed his sword arm and twisted it. Now that his sword was facing himself I then kicked his feet out from under him and he fell on his own sword.

The Goblin coughed up blood and I plunged my sword in its neck. The Goblin spitted and crack started to spread from the Goblins neck and cover its entire body. The cracks glowed the same green color as my flames and then he turned to dust.

With the Goblins now almost on top of me I didn't have time to think about what I just did or how I did that without feeling anything. I turned towards the other Goblins and started to attack them.

The first one I got to, I jabbed my sword into its neck and before he turned to dust I vaulted over him and stabbed the Goblin next to him.

Before I could kill the 4th one Sayre screamed and my blood turned to ice. Not caring about the Goblin wielding a War Hammer I turned around and sprinted towards the source of the scream.

I was almost there when something the size of my fist slammed into my side. I could feel my ribs crack and a warning bell went off in my brain. I tripped and fell and slammed into the ground.

My sword flew out of my hand and landed a few feet away. Blood started to pool in my mouth and I could feel my shirt starting become wet with blood.

I could see the vaguest hints of someone's shadow standing over me holding what looked to be a sludge hammer type weapons. As he started to raise the hammer I heard Sayre scream my name then silence.

My heart beat faster as I thought of what happened to her. Tears brimmed in my eyes and I feebly struggled towards my sword but that's when the hammer was brought down on my spine and my vision went black.

Day 24 – Hour 04:19 – Location: Primera's Southern Forest

I cried out and stumbled forward. Sayre's hands reached out and caught me before I fell. I murmured thanks and when I saw her I couldn't stop the tears from brimming in my eyes. She saw the tears in my eyes and her expression went from confused to concerned and she said.

"Carter what's wrong?"

Deciding now was not the time to be emotional I pushed away my sadness and, in a rush, I explained everything that has happened. I explained how she told me about her past and about Vetic. I told her about the fight with the Goblins but I left out the part where she screamed my name.

A few minutes later…

Sayre currently sat in my lap with her face leaning into my chest crying. I had just mentioned that the Goblins name was Vetic and she was having her meltdown. I whispered comforting words to her and she gradually calmed down.

Once she was clam enough I asked her, "Sayre, do you know of any weakness Goblins have? Or any weakness Vetic himself has?"

"Goblins are resistant to fire but they do have a threshold that you might be able get over. Since their muscles are as tough as stone slashing or stabbing them with anything other than an enchanted weapon. Carter there is no way around this."

I moved my hand on to her head and started to gently pat her. "You're forgetting the small detail that whenever I die I go back it time. I will eventually figure something out, but for right now I really only see 3 options. Option 1 would be to try and kill myself repeatedly so I can travel back in time to the point before we came here. Option 2 would be to attempt to kill Vetic or wound him to the point that we can escape. Option 3 would be to just simply run like hell or just hide."

"Would you stop petting me like a house cat, it makes me uncomfortable."

I stopped and started to blush, "Yea sure, but what do you think?"

"Well I would think kill yourself over and over again would be the best course of action, but I don't think your ability works that way. Running and hiding would both be out of the question."

"Fighting has already proven to be nearly impossible."

Sayre got off my lap and said, "Well, what if we can get your flames to burn other things but not me. Then you could incarnate the Goblins and not me at the same time, possibly make another explosion like when you destroyed the part of the forest."

It was a good idea but I didn't feel comfortable with the possibility of burning Sayre. "What if I burn you?"

"Something magic could fix."

"Still,"

She smirked and in a teasing tone she said, "Aww, do you really care that much about me."

"You act like an 8-year-old on the playground."

"Ah so you don't deny it."

I groaned and stood up. "Come on Sayre better start practicing."

45 minutes later...

I had finally mastered the ability to keep my fire from burning those I don't want to know. It was honestly quite easy to master, it only took me 5 tries to accomplish it. We now sat back to back in a small 50ft wide clearing that was about a 15-minute walk from the destroyed part of the forest.

"So, Carter how does it feel when you die, does it hurt?"

I sighed, I knew she was going to ask eventually but I didn't really know how to explain it. "Well, ever since I had that talk with Mariam I don't feel pain like I used to. It's now more like a warning bell telling me I am injured and where. When I die I feel like I am being ripped out of my body then shoved back in to a younger version of myself. The feeling of when I rewind back feels almost like I am trying to fit into a small jacket that fits but is a tad too small."

"Hmm, do you think there are others who have a power like yours?"

"Honestly I don't think I would wish this power on anyone. Sure, it may seem like not being able to die is great but when I die I am the only one that remembers the other timeline. I also wonder if every time I rewind back is the timeline I came from still there. I have always feared dying but know that I am kind of immortal I don't think I will want this forever. Like what happens if I grow old and my heart gives out in my sleep. Will I keep waking up from the morning before that day for entirety, or will I perpetually grow old? If I do I will outlive those I love and live in a frail, never dying body."

"Damn that's deep, like really deep. Well think on the bright side, your actions don't have consequences."

"You're not wrong, but the goddess said she wanted entertainment. That sounds like she wants me to go out and do some stupid quest, like slaying a dragon or finding that Holy Grail. I don't want to have some important destiny, I just want to live peacefully with someone I love in like a cabin out in the woods. I don't want to have to deal with gods, monsters, or quests. That is the whole reason I moved out into a random part of the forest before I was pulled into this world. When I was finally well enough to start hiking I was going to try and live a simple life as a knight or blacksmith but now I have a freaking destiny. Now I won't be coward and try to run away from my destiny but couldn't it have been someone else... Sorry for dumping my problems on you."

"It's alright, I don't mind listening to your problems. But a god wouldn't have you kill a dragon."

I don't know why but the subject change made me kind of happy. I don't know why, maybe because it was that she was listening or that I didn't really want to talk about my problems. "Why is that?"

"Well its believed that dragons are the god's kin and its punishable by death to kill or even attack a dragon, even if you are attacked by it."

"Even if it attacks you, that's kind of stupid don't you think?"

"Well it is believed that if you kill a dragon brings disaster on the nation it was killed in."

"You know that would be a good tactic in war. Lure a dragon into enemy land then kill the dragon there and boom your enemy is weakened by the curse and you can now win easily."

Sayre chuckled and said, "You're weird."

We sat there is comfortable silence with our back to each other for another few minutes with a feeling of dread washed over me. I moved to sit up and I said, "He is here."

Sayre nodded and I could hear her breathing quicken as she stood up. I reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze in a weak attempt to comfort her. I unsheathed the 'Cursed Sword' and stood next to Sayre and she whispered,

"Carter you should do it now."

I shook my head, "I am going to wait for him to appear. He moves at incredible speeds and I am not sure if he can out run my flames before I summon them. Plus, I have to make a smaller explosion since I don't know where the nearest road is and I need to have the only casualty be Vetic and no one else."

I slowed time down and started to watch the clearing. Two purple lights flashed in front of me, one at my head and the other aimed at my gut. At the same time two purple flashes appeared on my left and right.

I closed my eyes and imagined flames that would only burn the knives. My body flashed lime green and a wave of fire exploded off my body and enveloped the knives and incinerated them. I turned to see Sayre standing next to me with a mix of relief and awe on her face.

I smiled and I lost my focus on time and a flash of purple appeared 5ft from my chest. I regained my focus but was unable to dodge the knife and only watch as even at 1/16 the normal speed of time the knife shot from the purple light and impacted my chest in the span of 1/16 of a second. The knife buried its 5in blade right below my ribcage.

The force of the knife knocked me off my feet and I fell on Sayre. All the while the dead grey Goblin, Vetic slowly emerged from the trees. I tried to move but Sayre stopped me and whispered, "Don't when he gets close enough do the explosion."

I ignored the warning in my brain and waited for Vetic to come closer. He walked about 40ft but wouldn't come closer. "You seem to be planning something-"

Before he finished what, he was going to say I realized wouldn't come closer so I improvised. I started to summon a explosion and stood up.

"Yea, but don't worry the ground isn't hollow and since I can protect myself from your knives your only other option is to use that small army of Goblins you have waiting in the darkness."

The Goblin looked at me in an almost pitying expression, "It's a shame I have to kill such a brilliant and perceptive mind."

With that I slowed time as the Goblin rushed forward and I rushed towards him. Right before we would have collided I released the explosion and the ground under me cracked and like a geyser, a column of lime green fire shot into the fire.

Like the first time this lasted for a minute or two and when it was over I collapsed to my knees as a wave of exhaustion washed over me. Sayre ran over to me and said, "Carter that was freaking amazing."

I nodded as I tried to shake the sleepiness from my mind and I looked up at her and asked, "Is he gone?"

She shook her head, "No when he realized what you were doing he bolted but he didn't exactly make it but right as the fire disappeared I him stumble out of sight. I doubt he will bother us again today. You know I just noticed that there isn't any mana in the air."

I tried to stand up only to have my knees give out and I fell forward on to Sayre. She caught me before I hit her and said, "That wasn't even a fraction of what you did earlier and your tried."

"Not tired, just feeling weak at the moment. Can we just rest for a moment?"

Sayre nodded and I flopped down on the ground and closed my eyes.

 **Author's Note**

 **Hello, Cyrus here I made some changes to the way Sayre explains magic in Chapter 1.**


End file.
